Retrospective determinism

Name of fallacy

Retrospective determinism

Aliases

Type

Description

It happened so it was bound to happen

Example

"When he declared himself dictator of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar was bound to be assassinated." The fact that he was assassinated is used to justify the assumption that declaring himself dictator was bound to result or cause his assassination.

Form

Treatment

The argument is dealt with by demonstrating that the argument gives no logical grounds to conclude Caesar's assassination was the only possible outcome